The CoinThief trojan has been found in cracked versions of many popular Mac OS X applications.

Bitcoin has been opening up all kinds of new and unexplored territory recently. First, there's all the cool ideas of what you can do with a purely electronic currency, and then there's how you can make sure that all that currency is secure. For the latter, we've learned that it's best to avoid using scummy exchanges. Now, according to antivirus maker ESET, bitcoin-stealing malware is hiding inside pirated versions of popular OS X applications like Angry Birds and Pixelmator.

The particular trojan at work here is called CoinThief, which was first noticed earlier this month. At the time, it was hiding inside various bit/litecoin programs on legitimate sites like Download.com. It works by installing a secret browser plugin that swipes your login info to various bitcoin exchanges and wallet sites. ESET has identified the trojan in at least four popular pirated programs. Besides Angry Birds, there's also the BBEdit text editor, the Pixelmator graphics editor, and the Delicious Library cataloging tool.

Apple's already updated OS X's anti-malware program to combat it, but Mac bitcoin users might want to take the step of installing an extra antivirus for the time being. That said, if you get your bitcoin cache stolen for pirating Angry Birds, you likely had it coming.

It's tempting, but the chance of getting something that spies on you, contacts expensive numbers without your permission or steals your data is just too high. Most stuff you need is free (with ads) anyway, and there's also AdBlock.

wombat_of_war:i do have an honest question for people. has anyone heard an actual positive story involving bitcoins in the last 2 months?

To be honest, that's basic reporting bias. "Man makes successful transaction with bitcoin" isn't news. The same goes for traditional currencies. When the system works, it's not news. It's only when something act unexpectedly that people get interested.

wombat_of_war:i do have an honest question for people. has anyone heard an actual positive story involving bitcoins in the last 2 months?

I'm going to go with 'No', because even the Las Vegas story isn't positive when you think of the repercussions the other stories would have on that.

Some people want quite alot for a bad idea to be received well, but at this rate that isn't going to happen, and I frankly don't like Angry Birds either, so news like this is sort of a double feature...or a double whammy...dependent upon who's on the receiving end.